1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,920 This is Hacker Public Radio episode 4,000 and 27 for Tuesday the 9th of January 2024. 2 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:19,600 Today's show is entitled, today I learned 2023-12-18. 3 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:22,680 It is part of the series today, I learned. 4 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:27,360 It is hosted by Dave Morris and is about 10 minutes long. 5 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,120 It carries an explicit flag. 6 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:40,640 The summary is, three random things I discovered in the recent past. 7 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,320 Hello everybody, welcome to Hacker Public Radio. 8 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:51,120 My name is Dave Morris and I'm doing a show in the series today I learned. 9 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:58,640 I just noticed my notes say two random things but I've made it three random things so it's very random indeed. 10 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:02,000 So yeah, like I said, I've got three items I want to talk about. 11 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:08,400 I'm a bit on the border of making this two complex. 12 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:16,320 So I'm trying to reduce the complexity a bit but still give you the just of it. 13 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,800 This is not my great skill. 14 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,760 I tend to go off down rabbit holes very easily. 15 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:29,200 So I'm covering the two first two items together and I put them under the same heading. 16 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:34,320 And first part of it is a cure for sickle cell anemia. 17 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:36,800 I'll tell you a little bit about that in a minute. 18 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:44,160 And the other one is about fetal hemoglobin fetal being pertaining to a fetus which I'll again talk about in a bit more detail. 19 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:48,160 I started putting this together on the 18th of December. 20 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:52,800 The plan was to be able to turn the round within a day but of course it didn't happen. 21 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,200 And also I got snagged by words. 22 00:01:58,400 --> 00:02:02,480 I'm afraid this is demonstrates how easily my brain is a 23 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:04,560 diverted down different channels. 24 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:11,280 Many of the words that I'm using here have got alternative UK and UK Commonwealth 25 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,080 Spellings versus the USA Spellings. 26 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,400 I'm using the USA versions throughout. 27 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:22,160 If I personally prefer the UK versions with their diphthongs and I've mentioned what diphthongs 28 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:24,080 are in case you care. 29 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:29,920 And ligatures which are strange, strange things about writing and spelling. 30 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:39,680 And the word fetal is traditionally spelled with F-O-E-T-A-L but the O-N-E is stuck together. 31 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:41,200 Which is called a ligature. 32 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,720 But I was trained this way. I was taught this way because I'm 33 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,880 come from an era where that was the common thing so forgive me. 34 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,800 But I'm trying to suit update my brain a little bit. 35 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:56,640 So I've written two TLDRs if you don't want to read anymore. 36 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:03,680 And the first one is there's a potential cure which has been approved in the UK in November 2023 37 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,480 for the blood disorder called sicklecell anemia. 38 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:13,680 Second TLDR is that the oxygen carrying pigment in fetuses in the blood that is 39 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,880 is different from that in adults and changes after birth. 40 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:20,880 So those are my two discoveries if you like things I was not aware of. 41 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,960 So I tend to look at all things relating to science these days. 42 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:31,840 I was trained in biology but I haven't really done anything with my BSc degree in zoology. 43 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:39,040 I was as into a podcast the other day where the subject of sicklecell anemia was discussed. 44 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:43,600 Now in my degree we did cover sicklecell anemia because it is a 45 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:45,200 those are called sicklecell disease. 46 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:48,560 It's an inherited blood disorder. 47 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:55,360 It results in anemia which means you don't have enough oxygen carrying capacity in your blood. 48 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:59,440 And it has lots of complications that can be very painful and so on. 49 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:03,040 It's caused by and it kind of I think it can be fatal too. 50 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,200 It can be it's caused by an abnormality in the hemoglobin. 51 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,440 And I've got an item about hemoglobin in a minute. 52 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:14,640 A sicklecell disease is quite complex and I'm not going to go into it here because I'm already 53 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:16,240 spending a lot of time on this I think. 54 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:21,680 The Wikipedia page that I've linked to has got lots of useful information but it's quite detailed. 55 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,440 So but the first part of it can give you some sort of insight. 56 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:32,080 Let me try and just mention very very briefly that the problem with the hemoglobin in the blood 57 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:38,720 cells, the red blood cells means that they change shape from a thing a bit like a doughnut, 58 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,760 but without an actual hole just an indentation in the blood. 59 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:48,320 To strange twisted things that don't have the correct surface area for transfer of oxygen 60 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:49,440 and things I think. 61 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:55,120 And they also tend to clot quite easily because they're a wrong shape to slide through blood vessels. 62 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:00,000 So the new treatment has been developed using genetic manipulation. 63 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,280 This crisper thing which you might have heard about and I've given a link here. 64 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:11,440 I could do shows on this if anybody wonder but the cure has been to modify the stem cells in the 65 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,920 bone marrow so that they produce more fetal hemoglobin. 66 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:22,400 She's called hemoglobin F and red blood cells with hemoglobin F don't form the sickle shape. 67 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:29,920 Things to take away are babies don't have sickle cell anemia until they're growing. 68 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:31,280 They're several months old. 69 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:37,840 If they have the potential that is and hemoglobin F is what helps to prevent it. 70 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:46,160 So I then digress into what's a fetus and is the unborn offspring of an animal that develops 71 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:47,360 from the embryo. 72 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:51,600 And hemoglobin is the oxygen carrying protein in red blood cells. 73 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:59,600 In the fetus it's hemoglobin F and the fetal form of hemoglobin is replaced by the animal 74 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,400 form after birth in the first two to four months. 75 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:04,000 That I did not know at all. 76 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:10,720 I don't think we were sure it was known in the time that I learned about these things. 77 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:12,000 But it wasn't mentioned. 78 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,960 It wasn't a big deal as far as BSC zoologists were concerned. 79 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:18,160 Here's the thing though. 80 00:06:18,160 --> 00:06:25,840 Hemoglobin F is there because a developing fetus has got a challenge to get oxygen. 81 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:27,440 So it's inside the mother. 82 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,200 Its blood supply is passing by the mother's blood supply. 83 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:36,080 And the mother's blood supply has got hemoglobin of its own which has grabbed the oxygen 84 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,640 from the air and is carrying it about. 85 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:44,080 What the fetus has to do is to grab the oxygen from the mother's blood cells. 86 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,080 So it must have some sort of stronger affinity with it. 87 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,200 You think it is being stronger if you like. 88 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:58,000 So the quote from here from Wikipedia is hemoglobin F has a different composition than adult forms 89 00:06:58,000 --> 00:06:59,120 of hemoglobin. 90 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:02,960 Lowing it to bind or attach to oxygen more strongly. 91 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,520 This internal enables the developing fetus to retrieve oxygen from the mother's bloodstream 92 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,120 which occurs through the placenta and in the mother's uterus. 93 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:17,600 So if you're not trained in this area and like me you haven't really done much in it for the past 94 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:18,800 50 years or something. 95 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:23,840 The thought that how does the fetus get the oxygen from the mother? 96 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,040 There is no sort of denation process. 97 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,000 It's just that it's passing by and the fetus has to grab it. 98 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:36,480 So it needs this stronger, more strongly binding hemoglobin to do it. 99 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:42,080 The change from fetal to adult hemoglobin I've said here has been known for about 75 100 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,200 plus years but it passed me behind. 101 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:50,880 Which is always quite exciting to discover that human physiology has done this fantastic stuff. 102 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:59,760 Looks like tickle cellar neemy can be controlled, not cured and it's down to fetal hemoglobin 103 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:01,440 and it works. 104 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,960 The other thing I was taught didn't put this in the notes actually but 105 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:11,040 I think I was taught when I was doing my degree was that it's prevalent sickle cell disease 106 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:16,400 is prevalent in Africa which if that's strictly true but that was why I was taught at the time. 107 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:24,800 But it has a side effect which means that people with it are less prone to catching malaria 108 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:33,040 because malaria is a parasite injected by mosquitoes which it's an organism which 109 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:40,000 the parasite organism which resides inside blood cells, inside the red blood cells and it 110 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,720 does not get on well with the sickle shaped one. 111 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:50,880 So there is less proneness to catching malaria if you have sickle cell disease but that's not really 112 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:58,640 much of a cure for malaria. Okay so I've given a lot of links here for those two items and hopefully 113 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:08,160 if you're interested you'll find some good avenues to follow. So I dated this particular show 114 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:15,760 as the 18th of December and the reason I stuck with that was now the first of January 2024 115 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:21,840 or by the time I get to it. The reason I did that was because the pearl scripting language came into 116 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:31,280 being the first get hub commit appeared on December 18th, 1987 so that day is pearls birthday and 117 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:36,560 you might know I'm a long time devotee of pearl because we're part of the cause I found it 118 00:09:36,560 --> 00:09:42,080 amazing and useful back when I discovered it and started using it quite a long time ago now 119 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:49,360 not 1987. Maybe in the 1990s and being a long time devotee of pearl didn't know it had 120 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:57,200 birthday on the 1990s in December the 18th because that's the same day that I have a birthday. 121 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:04,000 The only thing is I'm about twice as old as pearl for what that's worth. Looking at the get hub 122 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:10,080 which I've linked to it's quite interesting to look behind the original ideas that led to 123 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:19,360 pearl the hypothesis thinking behind it was where we've got bash or shet or other shells and we've 124 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:25,200 got all the goodies in there and we've got all we've got said so quite nice if we could merge them all 125 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:32,000 together and have a sort of generic language and also improve on what's the point in the other one 126 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:37,200 that that was what I was told was the origin of pearl. I think it's moved on quite a lot since then 127 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:42,640 it's regarded as being obsolete now but still quite a lot people are working in the area 128 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:49,920 and getting jobs and being employed for many many years right pearl. My brain can't cope with 129 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:56,000 learning another language this stage of my life so I'm sticking. All right then that's it. 130 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:01,280 I hope you found some of that interesting. Thanks for listening. Bye. 131 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:08,960 You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at Hacker Public Radio.org. Today's show was 132 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:15,840 contributed by a HBR listening like yourself. If you ever thought of reporting podcast click on our 133 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:23,600 contribute link to find out how easy it means hosting for HBR has been kindly provided by an 134 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:30,800 onsthost.com internet archive and our synced.net. 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